It’s not unusual for students at Johnson Elementary School to be recognized for doing good deeds or committing acts of good behavior. In fact, it’s the norm.

 

For the past two years, JES has hosted a Positive Behavior and Intervention and Support (PBIS) program at the school. The idea was spurred by a call from the Harrison County Board of Education’s main office to see if any school was interested in taking the training.

 

As it turned out, Johnson Elementary was interested. Assistant Principal Heather Holbert and four others ended up taking the necessary training and JES implemented the formal behavioral program, which they call the Johnson All-Stars Behavior Program, last year and it continues into this school year.

 

“When the kids do something good, they get a ticket and they’re color coded tickets according to grade levels,” said Holbert. “They’re given out by the teacher.”

 

At the end of the day, the tickets that are drawn are put in a bucket in each student’s home room. Then, names are drawn and three kids get to pick from a list of prizes in the classroom. While the prizes are little items such as pencils, yoyos are things of that nature, there are bigger prizes to be had as well.

 

All the tickets from all 24 home rooms then make their way down to the officer. Every morning, said Holbert, a random winner in each grade is announced as part of the morning announcements.

 

“There are six big winners,” said Holbert. “We do this every day and the kids get so excited to see who the winners will be.”

 

The big winners for the day might include being taken to the front of the line, feeding the class pet, get to have the VIP lunch where you and two friends get to eat lunch on the stage. The stage lunch, is “the most popular prize,” said Holbert.

 

Students can choose an extra gym day, be a custodial or office assistant and if you’re a custodial assistant you may get to use the big electric mop. Office assistants, she said, will run errands. And, you can also choose to be a school administrator.

 

As it turned out, one young man really went all out when he was chosen as one of the prize winners. Five-year-old Logan Shriver, a kindergarten student in Debi Rogers’ class, was chosen and he wanted to be an administrator.

 

“He took it seriously,” said Holbert. “He looked the part and acted the part. He carefully crafted his outfit.”

 

Outside of his administrative look – bow-tie and all – Shriver’s morning started out in a typical manner. He did the morning announcements, got to see what Holbert was doing on her computer, helped out with others and even got to sit in the desk of Holbert and Principal Vicki Huffman. And it was at about this time, when he was allowed to make his one phone call, which things got interesting.

 

“He wanted to call (Harrison County Superintendent) Dr. (Mark) Manchin. When we called, Dr. Manchin wasn’t there but I talked with his secretary about what Logan was wearing and how serious he was and she said she’d let Dr. Manchin know,” said Holbert. “As it turned out, Dr. Manchin wanted to come out and meet his new administrator.”

 

A short while later, Manchin showed up at Johnson Elementary School to meet administrator Mr. Logan Shriver. The pair had a good question and answer session and Manchin even granted a wish in a very unique way.

 

“We never had Dr. Manchin come out since we’ve been doing this so it was really special. What made it better was listing to Logan ask Dr. Manchin questions on how to be a good principal and how to get picked as a superintendent,” said Holbert. “He then asked Dr. Manchin about calling off school and it was so great to hear Dr. Manchin agree to make a deal with him that he’d make Friday a three-hour delay day, which was already scheduled and a lot of kids probably didn’t know about. He was so excited. It was just a great experience.”

 

Editor's Note: Superintendent Dr. Mark Manchin is shown visiting with Logan Shriver, while the young man is shown during his official duties as a "new" Johnson Elementary Principal in the bottom photo.